This invention relates to a head for cleaning the interior of a pipe.
Sanitary and storm sewers carrying generally liquid tend to become clogged over a long period of time by the collection of debris and other solid matter at the bottom of the pipe as the particles forming the debris fall out of suspension from the moving liquid. This debris unless it is periodically removed will eventually block the pipe and render it useless.
A technique is known for example from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,380,461 (Maasberg), 3,678,948 (Hedges), 3,814,330 (Masters), and 4,073,302 (Jones), in which a cleaning head or nozzles is attached to a flexible water feed line and inserted into the pipe. The head has jet nozzles which cause water fed from the water hose to be projected backwardly along the pipe so that the head itself is driven along the pipe from a point of access. After a suitable distance has been achieved, the hose is grasped and pulled rearwardly so the head is drawn out of the pipe against the force provided by the water jets. This tends to force the collected material at the bottom of the pipe along the pipe with the returning head so that the material can be withdrawn at the point of access.
The efficiency of this process rests wholly upon the ease with which the head can propel itself along the pipe and, more importantly, the effectiveness of the head in its return path in lifting and transporting the collected debris from the base of the pipe.